Bishop-Martyr Nykolai (Nicholas) Charnetsky and the Twenty-Seven Other New Blesseds of the Church of Rus’-Ukraine Beatified in 2001; Our Venerable Father Samson, Host of Strangers (527-65)
Ephesians 6:10-17; Luke 21:12-19
Polyeleos Feast. A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy. Apostles’ Fast.
Read Ephesians 6:10-17
As human beings, we regularly connive with evil to do its bidding. As we know, pursuing what is evil instead of what is good is sin. In our world today we can see horrible evils being perpetrated against the innocent by those who seek power, those who are consumed with pride, and by those who despise the Good, in other words, those who are the enemies of God and of His Only-Begotten Son. How then do we combat evil when we encounter it?
One sure response to that question is that we do not do it alone. This is what the Holy Apostle reminds us of today in the epistle. He tells us exactly what we must do: we must put on the whole armour of God so that “we may be able to withstand the evil day.” We acquire the components of this armour through our life in Christ. For it is only through Christ, who conquered the power of evil through the Resurrection that we can overcome evil because He has won the great victory. Evil is powerless against the Cross and Resurrection and against those who arm themselves with the Gospel of Peace that proclaims the truth.
When we were baptized we “put on Christ.” Our entire Christian life must be a continual putting on of Christ that we might be able to conform ourselves to Him, that we might be united to God. This can be a truly daunting task. Perhaps when we are confronting the evil we face in our lives we feel overwhelmed and that we are struggling in the battle. At times like these, we must call out to God to strengthen us and look especially to the witness of the saints who show us that we can overcome evil through the power of the Cross and that we might be counted among the righteous, that we too might become saints. The new martyrs and confessors of Rus’-Ukraine who we commemorate today are shining examples to us of those men and women who stood up to great evil. Let us come to know them and their witness and earnestly ask Christ Our God that we might gain the victory which He won through their intercession in our times of great struggle.
Blessed Nykolai Charnetsky and the other blesseds of the Church of Rus’-Ukraine, pray for us!